"What you going to do?" was Bill's evasive answer.
"Why, we are motoring back to Calivada, where we have a room at the hotel," said Mrs. Harper.
"Well, then, I guess," said Bill, putting his foot on the step of the automobile, "that's just what me and Zeb is goin' to do."
The Harpers laughed and looked at each other. They were both agreed. Bill and Zeb climbed in and made a strange couple on the back seat of the car as it whirled through the streets of Reno and on up into the hills.
In the mean time the hotel at Calivada, true to its nature, was the scene of a new sensation.
After court that afternoon Margaret Davis and Judge Townsend, leaving Mrs. Jones and Millie to take the train home, went their own way. About eight o'clock that evening they arrived at the hotel, going to the desk where the sleek and dapper new clerk awaited them and came forward to welcome them. "Hello, Mrs. Davis!" he said, extending his hand.
"Good evening," Margaret replied, giggling and looking coyly back at the judge. "Will you give me my key, Mr. Peters?" she asked.
"Sure," he said, taking the key from the rack and handing it to her with a smirk.
"I didn't expect you back to-night." He smiled.
"Well, I wasn't expecting it myself." The annoyance evidenced by the frown on Lemuel Townsend's face immediately changed her tone. With a "Thank you" she turned to go, but the clerk had other plans.